January might just go down as one of my most productive months and there's no denying it's due largely to giving up the drink and doing dry January. And if February is going to stand a chance of being anywhere near as productive then it will be more of the same... with drinking saved for Holidays and 'weekends off'.
And if anything surely this is what a new year is all about. Looking at things from a different angle or perspective and taking a new approach. Because as the famous saying by Henry Ford goes “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” And this is something I've always held true because you'll be surprised at what you can achieve by simply trying something different. In January I did something I've been putting off for a long time. I gave in and started to submit my demo to record companies. And to my surprise they replied! And although I have yet to secure a deal a did get some great feedback and advise and the possibility of some exciting collaborations. But I'm hesitant to reveal too much at this point because if experience has taught me anything then these things have a habit of falling through, so I'll wait until it's a bit more concrete before reviling all.
And with this new sense of perspective I decided to give another shot at something I've always found very hard in the past... networking. Nothing beats meeting someone in the flesh and connecting with them face to face instead of via email. So I decided to venture out into the real world and try and attend some of London's meany music networking events. One of the biggest being this years Americana Fest. Currently in it's third year, this if nothing else is a sign of the Americana scenes growing popularity, and if the high profile of the conference was is anything to go by it's currently thriving. Although coming from a Blues background I see my music fitting very comfortably in this fairly new genre. And all in all it was a great experience and I've learnt a lot about the scene but time will tell how strong the connections I've made have been. As always I vlogged about my experiences and you can find out more in this weeks vlog.